Keith G. Jones, a Shared Meal and a Common Table. Some Relfections
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE WHITLEY LECTURE 1999 A SHARED MEAL AND A COMMON TABLE Some reflections on the Lord's Supper and Baptists Keith G. Jones Whitley Publications THE WHITLEY LECTURE 1999 A SHARED MEAL AND A COMMON TABLE Some renections on the Lord's Supper and Baptists Keith G. Jones Whitley Publications The Author and Whitley Publications 1999 ISBN 0-9528150-4-4 All rights reseaved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing. Whitley Publications c/o Regent's Park College Pusey Street Oxford OXI 2LB England 3 The Whitley Lecture The Whitley Lectureship was first established in 1949, in honour of W.T. Whitley (1861-1947), arguably the first systematic modern Baptist historian. Whitley was a notable scholar and servant of the Church of Christ. He had pastorates in England and Australia. He served the denomination in both countries in many ways, including pursuing historical studies. Whitley was a key figure in the formation of the Baptist Historical Society (1908). He edited its journal which soon gained an international reputation for the quality of its contents. Altogether he made a particularly remarkable contribution to Baptist life and self-understanding, providing an inspiring model of how a pastor scholar might enrich the life and faith of others. The establishment of the Lectureship in his name was intended to be an encouragement to research by Baptist scholars into aspects of Christian life and thought and to enable the results of such research to be published and available to the denomination and beyond. The Whitley Lectureship's Management Committee is composed of representatives of the Baptist Colleges, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Baptist Missionary Society, the Baptist Ministers Fellowship and the Baptist Historical Society. Through the years the encouragement towards scholarship has taken different forms, from the full support of the writing of lectures for publication by a designated Whitley Lecturer to the making available of smaller grants to those working at particular research interests. 4 In 1996 the Management Committee of the Whitley Lectureship began a new initiative in keeping with the original purpose. It was agreed to appoint each year a Lecturer to write and deliver a lecture as a contribution to scholarly Baptist thought. Each lecture will be published. We are delighted that the Revd Keith Jones gives the third lecture in this new series. He was a pastor in Bamoldswick from 1975 until becoming the Secretary of the Yorkshire Baptist Association. In 1991 he was appointed Deputy General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. He is presently Rector of the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague. His lecture topic, while focusing on Baptist thought and practices, is one of concern for all Christian people. Brian Haymes on behalf of the Management Committee THE WHITLEY LECTURE 1999 A SHARED :MEAL AND A COl\lMON TABLE Some reflections on the Lord's Supper and Baptists The organ notes died away. We had just finished singing a fine hymn of commissioning. The minister pronounced the benediction and walked down the right hand aisle to greet any worshippers leaving evening worship. The deacons, the men in their dark Sunday suits, all made of good West Riding woollen cloth, the women in smart coats with sober hats, left their seats and went into the vestry. The organist began to play 'When I survey the wondrous cross'. Some worshippers scurried away, anxious to leave the chapel. Others moved from their seats in the side aisles to the centre, every alternate row. There was no talking, just the sombre organ music. The minister walked back down the aisle, through the vestry door and emerged moments later with the deacons who went and sat on the platform behind the communion table, equal numbers either side. One lady deacon, always a lady, took a large white cloth from the communion table to reveal two trays of tiny glass cups filled with diluted Ribena blackcurrant juice and two silver plates containing small cubes of white processed bread. The minister 'fenced the table' with scriptural sentences and a reading from the Letter to the Corinthians about those who ate and drank unworthily. One deacon then stood and offered a general prayer about the bread. In fact, my memory recalls those prayers as being varied, moving between adoration, confession and intercession with 6 A SHARED MEAL AND A COMMON TABLE dexterity, though not always clarity. The deacons distributed the bread passing up and down the rows of pews. Each person present took a small cube and ate it. The silence was profound, broken only by the occasional sound of a cough. Then another prayer: occasionally this might take the form of a poem, or insight from a popular Christian writer. Thereafter the trays were handed round. Perhaps the organist would play something from 'Olivet to Calvary'. We would be instructed to drink the cup 'until He comes'. The Ribena often irritated the back of a dry throat and there would be a bout of coughing. Remaining seated and singing quietly we would conclude the service with a hymn such as that by Horatius Bonar, 'Here, 0 my Lord'. 1 As a teenager I came to several conclusions from this experience. The occasion was a sombre one. Some people did not like to be present. It was an adjunct to the main service. There was a very strong accent on memorial, on death and on discipline. I also perceived a lack of clarity about the focus of the prayers, which often mirrored those in the 'main', or preceding service, which had been uttered by the minister. I was told, of course, during my discipleship training, that the meal was primarily for believers. It was best not to consume 'the elements' until after baptism and that the meal was a time to remember the death of Jesus on the cross - a 'mere memorial' as earlier Baptist writers had declared. 2 Now, I hasten to say this is my recollection; the images which impressed themselves on my mind as a new first generation Baptist coming to terms with faith in the 1960s. I am sure some who were present on those occasions would soon bear testimony to facets I have missed and which would present a more accurate and rounded picture. But I do not think it is untrue of a typical post-war communion THE WHITLEY LECTURE 1999 7 service amongst Baptists, save possibly in the participation of women deacons, which was not so common. Indeed, there are still churches where that pattern exists. Elsewhere, the effects of the work of the late Dr Ernest A. Payne and the Revd S.F. Winward3 had begun to have the effect of encouraging churches to partake of the 'Supper' in the main act of worship. Today, though the music in the rest of worship may have changed, .the 'communion' part of many services has simply been incorporated into a monthly event in the morning. Where an evening service still exists, there might also be a second celebration. All this, despite some significant attempts by leading scholars to open up the debate and encourage a more rounded act of corporate worship. 4 In this Whitley Lecture I cannot hope to address the whole biblical, historical, theological and liturgical debate about the Lord's Supper. I have, therefore, attempted to limit myself to exploring some of the historical roots from which our traditional understanding comes. Then I hope to open up some new insights and to reflect on our theology and practice in the contemporary world. This, in the light of what we are constantly discovering as we engage in dialogue with other parts of the Christian tradition and in the process of reception of ecumenical discussions such as Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry. 5 It is often claimed that Baptists follow the 'third man of the reformation', Huldrych Zwingli, in being 'mere memorialists'. As Dom Gregory Dix said in his monumental work: 6 His doctrine of the sacraments, like that of his colleague of Baste, leaves them no force or efficacy of their own whatsoever. They are bare signs or 8 A SHARED MEAL AND A COMMON TABLE ceremonies by which a man assures other people rather than him of his saving faith in Christ's redemption. In the Eucharist there is but plain bread and wine, a reminder of the salvation achieved long ago on Calvary. In other words, the Eucharistic action consists in a vivid mental remembering of the passion as the achievement of 'my' redemption in the past... Now, this view of Dom Gregory Dix has often been taken as accurate in its portrayal of Zwingli. The comment has reverberated amongst Christian scholars who have presumed it could be safely applied to Baptists in general. My teenage impressions may seek, on first reflection, to bear out the assertion. However, it may be inaccurate and premature to assume either point is right. Was Zwingli really Zwinglian in his Eucharistic theology and have Baptists always been Zwinglian in their understanding of the meal? As to Zwingli, more recent research by scholars, especially around the time of the 500th anniversary of his birth, have re-examined the work of this reformer who was, unfortunately, cut down in his prime, and unlike his illustrious successor, Calvin, was not able to write up his theology in a systematic way. Dr Wayne Pipkin, a noted Zwingli scholar, has suggested several key values from the Eucharistic thinking of Zwingli.7 Firstly, the Eucharistic theology of Zwingli developed over a nine-year period.